Blake Stranathan, Lana’s Del Rey guitarist sharing some of the co-writing process of Ultraviolence with Lana in 2014 for strymon

Can you share what the co-writing process was like with Lana Del Rey on the new album Ultraviolence?

It was probably the best experience of my life so far. I was in New York visiting family, and Lana invited me down to Electric Lady Studios, which was always a dream of mine being a Hendrix nut. It was surreal being and working there. We wound up being there for 8 or 9 days with basically the entire place to ourselves. I had played guitar on a couple tracks that were pretty much finished, but one morning I came to the studio super early just to work out some tones and play in that amazing live room. As I was coming up with some progressions, Lana walked in and we came up with “Pretty When You Cry” on the spot. It was recorded through a Neve 8078 which just sounded unreal. None of it was planned which certainly added to the vibe. The same happened with “Cruel World”. I was actually watching a video of the ‘BigSky’ on my computer and showed it to her. She said, “Fuck! That sounds amazing. We need that.” (Laughs) So a couple of hours later, a runner went out and grabbed one. On the last day while Phil Joly, the engineer, was bouncing down a couple sessions, and she asked me if I wanted to play around with the new pedal in the live room. I played maybe a few chords and we immediately started writing ‘Cruel World’. We recorded it just guitar and vocal in one take, and then Dan Auerbach went on to produce the song not long after. Everything about the recording and writing process was super organic, plus the energy in that studio is very powerful. I came up with the guitars for ‘Flipside‘ at home in Los Angeles using the BigSky as well. I made a quick video clip and sent it to her phone. We wound up writing the song a couple days later at her house, and then recorded it at a studio later that night. Strymon definitely played a big role in shaping the sound of the record.

In the last ~40 seconds of Ultraviolence, there's a subtle yelling that sounds like one of the samples from BTD. I think that it sounds like the Rick james sample. Anyone know if it is actually that? Or is it just yelling

Blake Stranathan, Lana’s Del Rey guitarist sharing some of the co-writing process of Ultraviolence with Lana in 2014 for strymon

Can you share what the co-writing process was like with Lana Del Rey on the new album Ultraviolence?

It was probably the best experience of my life so far. I was in New York visiting family, and Lana invited me down to Electric Lady Studios, which was always a dream of mine being a Hendrix nut. It was surreal being and working there. We wound up being there for 8 or 9 days with basically the entire place to ourselves. I had played guitar on a couple tracks that were pretty much finished, but one morning I came to the studio super early just to work out some tones and play in that amazing live room. As I was coming up with some progressions, Lana walked in and we came up with “Pretty When You Cry” on the spot. It was recorded through a Neve 8078 which just sounded unreal. None of it was planned which certainly added to the vibe. The same happened with “Cruel World”. I was actually watching a video of the ‘BigSky’ on my computer and showed it to her. She said, “Fuck! That sounds amazing. We need that.” (Laughs) So a couple of hours later, a runner went out and grabbed one. On the last day while Phil Joly, the engineer, was bouncing down a couple sessions, and she asked me if I wanted to play around with the new pedal in the live room. I played maybe a few chords and we immediately started writing ‘Cruel World’. We recorded it just guitar and vocal in one take, and then Dan Auerbach went on to produce the song not long after. Everything about the recording and writing process was super organic, plus the energy in that studio is very powerful. I came up with the guitars for ‘Flipside‘ at home in Los Angeles using the BigSky as well. I made a quick video clip and sent it to her phone. We wound up writing the song a couple days later at her house, and then recorded it at a studio later that night. Strymon definitely played a big role in shaping the sound of the record.

Thanks for sharing, I don't know much about guitars and equipment but I've always wondered what kind of things/brands they use for recording the songs. My brother has lots of electric guitars so I know they all sound different from each other... I've always been a bit curious I guess.

Thanks for sharing, I don't know much about guitars and equipment but I've always wondered what kind of things/brands they use for recording the songs. My brother has lots of electric guitars so I know they all sound different from each other... I've always been a bit curious I guess.

You're welcome. It was a pleasure reading and sharing. I really liking hearing about how records come together. Especially from some of my favorite artists like Lana

Blake Stranathan, Lana’s Del Rey guitarist sharing some of the co-writing process of Ultraviolence with Lana in 2014 for strymon

Can you share what the co-writing process was like with Lana Del Rey on the new album Ultraviolence?

It was probably the best experience of my life so far. I was in New York visiting family, and Lana invited me down to Electric Lady Studios, which was always a dream of mine being a Hendrix nut. It was surreal being and working there. We wound up being there for 8 or 9 days with basically the entire place to ourselves. I had played guitar on a couple tracks that were pretty much finished, but one morning I came to the studio super early just to work out some tones and play in that amazing live room. As I was coming up with some progressions, Lana walked in and we came up with “Pretty When You Cry” on the spot. It was recorded through a Neve 8078 which just sounded unreal. None of it was planned which certainly added to the vibe. The same happened with “Cruel World”. I was actually watching a video of the ‘BigSky’ on my computer and showed it to her. She said, “Fuck! That sounds amazing. We need that.” (Laughs) So a couple of hours later, a runner went out and grabbed one. On the last day while Phil Joly, the engineer, was bouncing down a couple sessions, and she asked me if I wanted to play around with the new pedal in the live room. I played maybe a few chords and we immediately started writing ‘Cruel World’. We recorded it just guitar and vocal in one take, and then Dan Auerbach went on to produce the song not long after. Everything about the recording and writing process was super organic, plus the energy in that studio is very powerful. I came up with the guitars for ‘Flipside‘ at home in Los Angeles using the BigSky as well. I made a quick video clip and sent it to her phone. We wound up writing the song a couple days later at her house, and then recorded it at a studio later that night. Strymon definitely played a big role in shaping the sound of the record.

Happy birthday Ultraviolence, a truly iconic era and some of Lana's very best work. I remember listening to the album for the first time while laying on the floor before going out and listening to Cruel World like

This album changed my life, whew. It had such an impact when it came out, I was in the perfect (or worst?) head space for this album, every song just hit me like a brick wall and scalped me. I loved BTD, played every song on it to death, it was still fresh in my mind (I got into Lana in late 2012, early 2013 post Paradise), and I expected similar sounds with UV, but I wasn't ready. God bless Dan Auerbach for transforming this record ultimately. So much crying, so much replaying of every single song, so much swaying around in my bed room, at one point I was just like on the floor. I'm getting emotional thinking back to that day.